The present invention relates generally to a mounting structure for an anchor of a seat belt of an automotive vehicle, especially of a vehicle having no pillar between adjacent front and rear doors. More specifically, the invention relates to a mounting structure for an anchor of an automotive seat belt for a vehicle with a sliding door.
A sliding door is generally suspended from the vehicle side with upper and lower slider assemblies engaging upper and lower guide rails for sliding movement therealong. The guide rails are respectively mounted on upper and lower side frames, such as roof side rail and side sill. The side frames are subject to both static and dynamic bending stresses due to the door weight and the door sliding movement. The bending stresses applied to the side frame in the case of vehicles having front and rear doors opposing each other directly without having a pillar therebetween, are greater that those applied to the side frames of vehicles with a pillar between front and rear doors.
On the other hand, an anchor for a seat belt needs to be mounted on the upper side frame. In this case, a difficulty is encountered in that due to the pillar-less structure, the side frame may not be sufficiently strong to support the anchor. In other words, due to lack of the strength of the side frame, the seat belt may not provide sufficient restraining force for the passenger if an accident should occur.